Unofficial news and tips about Google

March 5, 2009

Google Chrome, Bundled with RealPlayer

If you try to install RealPlayer, a media player available at real.com, you'll notice that the setup downloads Google Chrome. The option to install Google's browser is enabled by default and I assume that most people will not bother to disable it.

RealPlayer seems to be first third-party application used to promote Google Chrome. The browser has replaced Firefox in Google Pack and it's installed along with Google Earth if you're not paying attention.

Despite being the most aggressively promoted Google product, Chrome's market share is still low: according to Net Applications, the global market share for Chrome was 1.15% in February, compared to 0.78% in September 2008. "The biggest challenge all [browsers] face is that most people don't even know what a browser is or that there's choice," told Wired.com Brian Rakowski, director of product management at Google.